Shirley, Tarra, Sissy, and Winkie have officially returned closer to the barn from deep within the Asian habitat where they spent the majority of the warm summer months. Shirley was the last to return and spent two recent nights in the comfort of the heated barn.
For Thanksgiving, Shirley, Tarra, Sissy and Winkie received paper bags made into turkeys—stuffed, of course, with oat cereal, fresh cranberries, and raisins. They also each had their own personal pumpkin pie.
African elephants Sukari, Hadari, Rosie, Tange, and Flora enjoyed Thanksgiving themed enrichment as well. Caregivers painted pumpkins—a favorite snack—to look like turkeys and made feathers out of colored paper. Sukari tore all of the feathers out one by one before eating her pumpkin; Tange put the whole pumpkin in her mouth at once, feathers and all; and the others stepped on theirs, and then ate the pieces. Caregivers are still finding feathers out in the habitat.
At Q Barn, Debbie and Ronnie have been seen napping in the sun on chillier days, with Minnie nearby, while Billie has been seen exploring away from the barn, foraging for browse and discovering enrichment items left for her in the habitat.
#GivingTuesday was a HUGE Success!
We are beyond amazed at the support we received last week from all of our incredible fundraisers and donors. More than 1,500 people came together to make a difference for elephants by donating $156,865 in 24 hours for our cause! That’s a whopping 24% increase over last year’s Giving Tuesday, and it puts us 3/4 of the way towards our goal of $200,000.
We cannot thank you enough!
We also wanted to take this time to remind you that the #GivingTuesday campaign was part of the CrowdRise Holiday Charity Challenge, a friendly fundraising competition that runs throughout the holiday season through January 5th. This week there's $3,000 up for grabs for the charity that raises the most online through Crowdrise—so your gift this week could have an even bigger impact! You can contribute here.
AND, we are incredibly optimistic that your generosity has put The Sanctuary within reach of a Grand Prize of $50,000 (2nd Place) or $100,000 (1st Place) at the end of the Charity Holiday Challenge on January 5th.
Please consider sharing this campaign with your friends and family, and Thank You for your continued support!
See our standing on the Holiday Charity Challenge leaderboard, and check out our Facebook page for more details and updates throughout the holiday season.
Safe in Hohenwald, TN
We've received many inquiries from supporters about the fires in East Tennessee. The elephants are safe! The Sanctuary is ~300 miles from Gatlinburg and we've experienced several days of much-needed rain. Thank you to everyone for your concern. We're continuing to follow the devastation in Gatlinburg and surrounding areas and send our deepest condolences to all those affected.